Tom Watson: Blair and Brown should come clean over the News of the World

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should come clean about their relationship with
executives at the News of the World, claims Tom Watson, the deputy chairman
of the Labour Party and leading phone hacking campaigner.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should come clean about their relationship with executives at the News of the World, claims Tom Watson, the deputy chairman of the Labour Party and leading phone hacking campaignerPhoto: PA

The outspoken member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, which investigated the scandal, said that the former Prime Ministers should "take responsibility" for any contact they had with the likes of Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks.

He said that Blair and Brown should reveal all communications they had with the defunct paper and release all their private emails so that he can clear the air.

The MP for West Bromwich East made the comments in an interview published in the June edition of the monthly magazine Prospect.

He said: “Gordon Brown can speak for himself but I very clearly feel that he should take responsibility for the relationship, just like Tony Blair and David Cameron.”

He went on to call for Brown and Blair to “reveal all contact, including private emails” to clear the air.

“Don’t get me wrong, I know they need to communicate through these columns.

"But the way the Sun on Sunday was published in an act of bravado — I thought there should have been a respectable time period before they jumped in.”

Watson said that the hacking scandal was not over yet and new revelations on computer hacking are set to “dwarf what we have seen so far.”

The MP who has spearheaded the parliamentary probe into phone-hacking said: “We are not through this scandal yet.

"Computer hacking is next and it may dwarf what we have seen so far.

“I have seen evidence that strongly suggests computer hacking was more widespread across a number of industries."

He said that “Trojan” devices had been used to illicitly disclose the content on hard drives.

“The police inquiry has quite a long way to go before the full scandal is revealed,” he said.

He said that Murdoch should show “genuine contrition” over the hacking scandal.

“I don’t think he really thinks he’s responsible for this," he said.

"And he is. There is a sense that the global company he runs [is] run like a dysfunctional family firm, so they need to put in serious pieces of corporate governance, and that’s not getting staff to sign 35 page conduct documents — that’s about getting accountability.

So [Murdoch’s] 12 per cent of the shares and 43 per cent of the vote — I don’t think people think that’s fair.

The gesture would be getting the share arrangements in good order, which would allow the big institutions that have invested in companies like that to have a greater say in corporate governance.

"I would imagine that most investors would think that being chairman and chief executive has failed the corporate governance test as well, so dividing those two roles up would be a very good move forward for reform.”

On his public spats he had with Louise Mensch, the Conservative member of Culture, Media and Sport committee, he disclosed that they get on well despite their disagreements.

“I think she’s the most honest member of the committee,” he said.

“I fundamentally disagree with her on nearly every point. But she believes this stuff. I think she’s naive but she believes it.

"People question her motives but she’s just flipping strong willed and dogmatic. I like her a lot.”

He said he had no idea what the future held for him.

"The strange thing about this whole affair is that I do genuinely lack personal ambition now," he said.

"There are things I do because I enjoy it and I’m very ambitious for Ed Miliband but I don’t have to do it.

"I can do it in whatever capacity. You know if he wanted me out of the shadow cabinet tomorrow I wouldn’t be unhappy.